1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to printed circuit board and more specifically to data input devices particularly useful with printed circuit boards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Data input devices, in the form of various types of keyboards, have long been available for many different purposes. Commonly such keyboards include a plurality of key switches closely spaced to one another and arranged in an X-Y matrix. The keyboards are made as a separate unit having a substrate which may be a single or double sided circuit board, contacts mounted on the substrate, key buttons, escutcheons and sundry associated housing members. The completed keyboard is frequently provided as a unit for inclusion in the apparatus for which it is intended with the manufacturer of the apparatus having little if any control over the design and manufacture of the keyboard. Such keyboards are typically made in large numbers in order to provide a device having a relatively low cost per key position. Because of the need for maintaining a low cost per key position the keyboards tend to become standardized to utilize mass manufacturing techniques with many different apparatuses using the same or only slightly modified keyboards. For example, for many applications keyboards made in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,293 issued Jan. 25, 1977, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention is extremely cost competitive as well as being highly reliable and long lasting. In that patent a plurality of actuating elements or discs are arranged in an array of columns and rows on one face of the substrate and a plurality of parallel extending conductors are mounted on this face of the substrate beneath the actuating elements to form a very compact, inexpensive keyboard system. However, there exists a need for many applications where the number and locations of key positions or data inputs does not conform to a dense array of key positions or where few key positions are required perhaps with differing spacing between key positions. Keyboards made in accordance with the above mentioned patent would not always be cost competitive for such applications. In addition there are situations where the total number of keyboards to be used for a given application is too low in quantity to justify a dedicated design such as that of the above patent.